


A Christmas Cabin Miracle

by McParrot



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Angst and Porn, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Porn with Feelings, Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-18 18:20:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13105890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/McParrot/pseuds/McParrot
Summary: Just as he was stamping up the porch and raising a hand to knock, breathing in to begin speaking… The door opened.And standing there was John Sheppard. He was wearing a Santa hat. And a red bow tie. And… absolutely… nothing… else.





	A Christmas Cabin Miracle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Melimegreenleaf](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Melimegreenleaf).



**LJ nam** e: melimegreenleaf

**Pairings/characters I'd like** : McShep is my favorite, but I also love Teyla/Kate, Teyla/Elizabeth, Sam/Elizabeth, and Sam/Jennifer

**Things I'd LIKE** : h/c, getting together, first kiss, angst with a happy ending, fluff, humor, misunderstandings, self-doubt, near death/thinking someone is dead (I'm a huge fan of the whole "when I thought you died/were going to die I realized how much I love you"), bed sharing, fix it for Kate and/or Elizabeth's death, soulmates, canon divergent AUs

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I hope you like it.

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Rodney struggled into his down jacket, pulled on his gloves and muttering under his breath, made his way towards the picture-perfect log cabin, because didn’t it just figure that Sheppard’s idea of a perfect hideaway spot would be an outdoorsy, sporty, woodsman type place. He was probably wearing a checked shirt.

Stamping through the snow towards the cabin he was working on the rant he was about to unleash. It was going to start with, _If he wanted snow he could have stayed in Canada_ , with a side of complaint about, _Stupid sporty people that thought snow was fun_ , and, _He supposed it was marginally better than a cabin on a beach by a surf break which he’d sort of been expecting_ and, _How was it possible for a reasonable person to actually like being somewhere like this? Really?_ There would have been more, so much more. _How his shoes were now wet and, Yes, he knew it wasn’t actually possible to catch pneumonia from cold feet but surely it was debilitating, and he’d be more susceptible. And when the hell was John coming back?_ It would have been a good rant and he was looking forward to it.

But he was totally derailed.

Because, just as he was stamping up the porch and raising a hand to knock, breathing in to begin speaking… The door opened.

And standing there was John Sheppard. He was wearing a Santa hat. And a red bow tie. And… absolutely… **nothing** … else.

“Hey.” John smiled, the broad happy smile that was Rodney’s favourite thing on earth. “You found me.”

“Oh.” Rodney stared, struck dumb. He drank in the sight.

John leaned against the door jam. Under Rodney’s gaze, John’s delicious cock which had been semi-erect rose, in spite of the cold air flooding through the door, and came to full, glorious hardness. It gave a little bounce. Even after all this time, it still astounded Rodney that someone like himself should have this sort of effect on someone like John Sheppard. His own pants were suddenly far too tight.

“Um.” He gave a silly little wave. “Hey.” And he crowded through the door, pausing a bare moment to kick the door closed, it was awfully cold out there, as he collected John in his arms and crushed him up against the wall.

The kiss was lung-searingly epic and the feeling of John in his arms was incredible. Here was John, whole and healthy and on display, all for him. His breath caught in his throat. “Hold on. Hold on. Wait.” He backed up enough to get one glove off with his teeth and John helpfully wrenched at the other one. “Good,” Rodney moaned. “Better. Oh, this is amazing.” He waved his hands around for a moment, indicating the cabin, John and everything. “This is so good.” And dived in for another kiss. This time he could feel John’s silky hair against his palm, and the smooth warm skin across his shoulders. Jennifer had never offered herself up like this. John was the whole complete package. He ran a hand down John’s long back, down over the nobs of his spine to the warm hollow just above his buttocks. He moved his hand lower still, hitting the solid roundness of his butt, and pulled him in close while they stole each other’s breaths and moans.

This time it was John who pushed him away. “Scratchy,” he said, and Rodney realised that John’s chest was rubbing up against Rodney’s jacket’s zipper.

“Right. Off. Clothing off.” He wrenched his jacket over his head and grabbed for the hem of his jersey and shirt. “Too many layers. I should have known that dressing for the weather was a bad idea. How stupid of me.”

John laughed and worked on Rodney’s belt and zipper. He nearly tripped him up when he shoved his trousers down his legs and they caught on his boots. Rodney staggered, bare butt colliding with the cold, startlingly solid wood of the door behind him. “Careful. Easy.” But really, he was in total agreement with John. He wanted to be naked and he wanted it now.

Mission finally accomplished, with no more mishaps, John straightened up and shoved himself up against Rodney, diving in for another blistering kiss. And this time Rodney could feel **everything.**

“Oh God. Oh God.” It had been weeks since they’d last been together, well not unless you counted all the hours Rodney had spent sitting beside John’s hospital bed when he was in a coma and Rodney definitely didn’t. And even before that, well Rodney had supposedly been going out with Jennifer, and so, although he hadn’t said no to a little mutual relief with John when he was asked, it hadn’t been a regular occurrence. It was just a thing, something they did. He refused to feel guilty about it.  

And actually, there’d been very little chance for sex, with John or Jennifer, what with all the VIPs trooping through the wonderous, Earth saving, City of the Ancients and exclaiming in awe over the water columns in the walls and the magical closets that transported you across space with the ease of stepping into an elevator. Rodney wondered when transporters had ceased to be awe inspiring and become mundane. Just like sex with John Sheppard. It took separation from the miraculous event to make you realise just how miraculous it was.

“Oh God. Slow down.” He reluctantly pushed John back. Somewhere along the way John’d lost his Santa hat, but the bow tie was still in place. “Stop. We’re still in the hallway. I do not want to come in the hallway. Show me the bed.”

John grinned, fond and goofy. He gave one more lascivious tilt of his pelvis, rubbing their cocks together and weakening Rodney’s conviction to not come in the hall. Then he moved away. He held out his hand. “I have prepared two choices for our fucking pleasure,” John said in a stupid high-class voice, like he was a butler or something. “You’ve already said that you’d prefer not to do it in the hallway and I’m pleased to say that that was not one of the locations available. Although it’s possible that that area could be made available later, should you desire it?”

Rodney thwacked him on the side of the head. “How did you know it was me?” he asked. “When I arrived. It could have been anyone coming in to the door?”

John gave him one of his, don’t-be-a-moron looks. “Who else could it be? No one else would have thought to look for me here or figured out how to get here.” He looked at him sideways. “You didn’t tell anyone else about this place did you?”

“No,” Rodney said indignantly. He must have looked shifty though.

“Rodney?”

“Well. I didn’t tell anyone, but I think Zelenka knows. He’s a crafty little hacker. If anyone could find this place he could.” John’s hands-on-hips look of exasperation didn’t have quite the same effect when he was naked. “He won’t tell anyone though. Well, not unless you kidnap me and don’t let me leave.”

John gave a funny look, like he’d actually been thinking of just that.

“I’m sorry it took me a while to think of it and work it out.”

John’s smile was fond. “I knew you would.” He reached for him. “And you’re here now.”

“Oh. Wait.” Rodney pushed him away. “I should tell you something.” Rodney found his heart pounding. “In the interest of full disclosure.”

John gave up deliberately trying to be sexy and leaned in the doorway to listen, inadvertently ramping his sexiness up exponentially. Rodney rushed to finish his speech. He needed to get his hands back on John. “I.. ah… I told Jennifer about us.”

“Oh, you did?” John did the eyebrow raise. “And how did that go?”

“Well, surprisingly she wasn’t surprised. It might have had a bit to do with how much time I spend at your side in the infirmary. I think that gave the game away.”

“Was she very upset?”

“No.” And that rankled. “I think she was quite relieved actually. It’s probably just as well. This way she’s not likely to poke unnecessary needles in you. She’s still being a good doctor. Well as far as I can tell.” He reached out for John again. “I don’t want to talk about her. Not now. Not when I’ve got you… leaning…” he waved a hand, trying to describe the angle, the hotness. “Weren’t you telling me where we could fuck?”

John led him into the small but tasteful lounge room where a cheery fire was blazing and sending out waves of glorious heat. A soft, white sheepskin rug (wow, did sheep come that big?), was laid out in front of the fire with a colourful quilt folded beside it. “We have the lounge room with the romantic, rug in front of the fire scenario.” He waved a hand to indicate the small basket on the low table by the rug that contained lube and wipes and a second one that held sweets and bottled water.

“Or,” John dragged him through the door at the end of the room, “We have the more traditional, but by no means inferior, doing-it-on-the-bed, scenario. Which would you prefer?”

The bedroom had a large, comfortable looking bed, with a depression in the quilts and pillows like someone had recently been lying in it. One bedside cabinet held similar baskets to those in the living room. “The bed,” he ground out. “The bed will do fine.”

“Good choice. Lie on the bed.” John gave a feral grin. “In the middle.”

Rodney staggered onto the bed, all grace leaving him in his haste, finally lying back to see John staring at him like he was trying to work out which parts of him to eat first. He was so ridiculously attractive, Rodney couldn’t believe it. “Remember that thing,” John growled as he straddled Rodney’s hips, settling down with his ass pressing down on Rodney’s cock, “that thing we said we wanted to try, if we ever had time when we knew we wouldn’t be interrupted?” He reached over into the basket, then sat up again, creating a delightful squishing sensation against Rodney’s groin. He popped a chocolate into Rodney’s mouth and bit down on one himself. “Well no-one is going to interrupt us here.” The look on John’s face however was anxious, he was worried that he’d overstepped some invisible boundary and Rodney might not really have meant it when he said he wanted to do it.

“I remember,” he smiled. “The planet that staged that ghastly sex ritual to honour their elders.” He shuddered because old, wrinkly people having sex was just gross. John was obviously sharing the same uncomfortable memory and that was the last thing they wanted to be thinking about when they were about to have sex themselves. “Which they achieved by giving the participants a potent Viagra type drug.” He pressed his hips up against John’s ass. “Give me the pill. I’ll do whatever you want.”

The smile John gave him was blinding. He bent and whispered, “We don’t need the pill. Not here, not now.”

“No. Of course not.” Rodney was rock hard. “The thought of making you come, no hands, just from my cock. God John…” Words momentarily left him at the thought of the hotness of that and he bucked up against John and groaned. “Christ, I can last as long as you need.”

John pressed back against him, the look on his face so open and happy. “Rodney. God.” And he surged forward and kissed him.

“Come here.” He grabbed John and pulled him down on top of him. “Make out time,” and he dived back in for a real kiss. “We’ve got all day.”

“Yeah,” John settled himself, cradled between Rodney’s legs, his body warm and solid across him. Rodney wrapped one arm around his back and placed the other hand firmly on his ass, pulling him closer. The stupid bow tie rubbed at his neck, but it seemed to be made of something silky. It wasn’t scratchy. One of John’s hands tangled in his hair, while the other stroked Rodney, anywhere he could reach. The kiss got hotter, their hips started to rock, press against each other. Their heartbeats began to synch.

They had all day. And all night. They had as long as they needed, and Rodney was determined to make the most of it. He was so turned on, by the sensual surroundings of the cabin, by the thought of what they were going to do, by the whole emotional, sensory overload that was having his arms full of a naked, writhing John Sheppard. “Mmmm.” He deliberately pulled back, came up for air. “You are so hot, and I am about to spontaneously combust.”

John laughed. “Well we can’t have that.” And he shimmied down Rodney’s body and proceeded to suck his few remaining brain cells out his dick, making him come in two seconds flat. When he could finally breathe again and managed to boot his brain back on line, John was lying beside him, come scented breath wafting across Rodney’s face as he idly played with the few hairs that grew around Rodney’s nipples. He looked appallingly smug. The tie looked a little bit worse for wear. “Holy fuck,” Rodney said, heartfelt. “What happened to taking all day?”

“We are taking all day,” John said sensibly. “That was just taking the edge off things for you.” And he climbed back into his spot between Rodney’s legs, draped across him like a blanket again, then kissed him like he just couldn’t get enough. Rodney tasted his come in John’s mouth and was instantly, achingly, hard again.

They kissed and rocked until languid turned urgent and John was panting and writhing and as ready as he was ever going to get. Jesus, Rodney was more than ready too. “Okay.” He tried to roll John off. “We need to prep you. Get you ready. Where’s the lube?”

“I… ah.” John was already flushed with arousal but his face flamed as red as the tie. “You don’t need to. I’m ready.”

“Of course you are. Jesus.”

John reached for the basket and pulled out the lube. “We just need to… I mean, we could probably do without, but…” and he poured some into his hand, “I like doing this,” and spread it around Rodney’s cock.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” Rodney chanted as he tried to pull himself back, because he thought, that under the circumstances he could probably get it up if he came again, but he didn’t want to chance it.

“Another time,” John said, seemingly reading his mind, and when Rodney thought about it, he’d been doing that for years, “We’re going to have to see how many times we can make you come before you call Uncle.”

And that just made things worse.

John gave him a speculative look. “You’re finding things really intense then?” At Rodney’s nod he tightened his grip with his slippery hand and gave two long gliding pulls. That was all it took. Rodney crashed, gasping, into another hard orgasm.

“Christ, John,” he said hoarsely, long moments later.

John was laughing. The bastard. “Are you all right?”

“Fine. I’m fine.” His heart was still bouncing in his chest. John handed him a water bottle and he drank gratefully. “Yes.” He managed to sound a bit like himself.  “It is really intense.”

“You’d have blown your load as soon as I sat on your cock.” John gently started working his cock again. “It is **really** hot,” John said reverently. “Really.”

“Is that what you want to do? Rodney was hard again already. He swallowed. This might very well kill him, but what a way to go. “Sit on my cock?”

“Oh god yes. Yes, please.” He swarmed up Rodney’s body, crouched to straddle him and took Rodney’s cock in hand. “I’m going to ride you so hard. I’m gonna ride you till I come.” He lined himself up and sank down, eyes fluttering closed as he groaned, taking Rodney all the way in. “Oh Rodney. Oh, so good.” His eyes struggled open and he looked at Rodney out of eyes blown wide with lust. “Oh.” He lifted and sank back down, Rodney gently rising up to meet him, sensing that he wasn’t ready yet for hard thrusts and pleased now that John had made him come before. John had been right, Rodney wouldn’t have been able to control himself now, if he hadn’t just come.

John gave a few happy bounces. “Oh God Rodney. I love…” he bounced again, “your cock… Love your cock… in my ass.”

And just for a moment Rodney had thought he was going to say something else. “I love… my cock in your ass too,” he gasped, trying to cover up the flood of emotion. He forced back a sudden vision of John in the hospital bed, his beautiful body all broken. Here and now. He had to live in the here and now. “Jesus, it feels so good. I missed you. Missed this.” He pulled his knees up, planted his feet and thrust up. John groaned as he ground down to meet him, his full cock bouncing, head flung back, neck accentuated by that bloody bow tie, body straining. He put his hands back, braced himself against Rodney’s thighs and went for it, lifting up and crashing down, impaling himself over and over, taking Rodney as deep as he could go. John was completely abandoned, not holding anything back as he groaned and gasped.  He was focussed solely on his pleasure, hedonistic. Rodney didn’t think he’d seen him like this, ever.

He was so beautiful.

He was sexy as hell and he was riding Rodney’s cock; tight, hot friction that just didn’t let up. Rodney couldn’t help his own moans and gasps. He wanted to hold him, touch him, but all he could really reach was his legs, so he ran his hand up and down those, feeling the play of muscle over the bones, the way his flesh moved as he worked himself, the coarse hairs that shifted under his hands. John’s cock was leaking. Rodney longed to hold it but that wasn’t what they were trying to do. “Are you getting there?” Rodney panted, because the picture in front of him, the sensation of John tight around him was too much. “Are you going to come?”

“So good,” John ground out. “Rodney. So good.” He shimmied his hips, circling, and that was too much for Rodney. He couldn’t hold it back. He thrust up hard and came again, body convulsing in a tight bow of effort, pulsing deep into John’s ass. He might have screamed.

When he came back this time, drawing in ragged breaths, John was leaning back against his bent legs, still seated on his cock. Still hard, his cock huge and red pointed right at Rodney like an Exocet missile. John was grinning from ear to ear. “God Rodney, that was amazing. You should see what you look like. Oh.. Wow.” He gave a little shimmy of his hips, circling on Rodney’s cock that didn’t seem to have deflated, at all. “Mmmm,” and licked his lips. “Thank you for doing this. Thank you for doing this for me. I love… that you came here. That you’re doing this.”

“Oh, believe me,” Rodney managed to get out. “It’s no hardship.” He rolled his own hips and pushed up. Oh yes, still hard. “Wow. Jesus, this place is better for me than Viagra. I mean, I think. I don’t know. I’ve never taken Viagra.” There was no way in hell that Rodney was going to tell John that it was being with him that was the aphrodisiac.

John smirked at him. The bastard knew.

“I need a drink.”

John leaned over and snagged a water bottle out of the basket. He took a healthy swig himself and then handed it to Rodney. Rodney took it gratefully and drained it. “Is this working?” he asked. His throat felt so much better from the water. “I know you’re enjoying it, but are you going to be able to come?”

“If you touched my cock,” John gestured towards the appendage which twitched at being mentioned, “I mean, at all,” and Rodney could see that it was taking a hell of a lot of self-control for him not to touch, “I’d go off like a rocket,” John said. “Like really. I am so turned on you wouldn’t believe.” He gave another bounce, eyes closing and swallowed. He did it again. “Oh fuck.” He opened his eyes. “But it’s not quite enough. God Rodney, it’s the most amazing… torture.”

“Okay,” Rodney said. “Let’s switch it up. Change position. I want to be able to hold you.” He pushed and John lifted off. Losing John’s body heat around his cock felt like a great loss, even as his cock was starting to feel a little abraded and sore. “Okay. More lube too.”

“Yeah,” John agreed, so he must be feeling it too.

Rodney shifted up the bed until he was sitting against the headboard. “Turn around. On your knees,” and he worked a liberal handful of lube into John. He liked doing this too. John writhed on his fingers, moaning happily. He coated his own cock again, got to his knees and lined up on John’s hole. “Ready?” And John pushed back against him.

Rodney held him tight against him, holding him still, then ran his hands up and down his back, caressing his spine, the ridges of his ribs, the soft area at his sides, wrapping himself around him, inhaling the scent that was John Sheppard aroused; sweat and sex and the underlying scent of John. He wrapped his arms around his chest and kissed the sweaty spot under his hair at the back of his neck, just above the tie. He placed his hands around John’s neck, delighted to hear him whimper. Ah, so maybe the tie was standing in for something else. Did John even know? He gave a slow roll of his pelvis, out and all the way back in and John moaned. “Yeah?” Rodney asked. “’That good?”

John didn’t seem able to answer. Rodney tightened his hold on John’s throat and felt him jerk in response. Then he pulled him up, pulled them back until he was on his knees with John in his lap, and he could kiss him. Now this, this was bliss. Rodney would put up with any backwoods, snowy scenario for this. In this position he could play with John’s nipples, could lick and bite the sensitive spot on the side of his neck, could feel him skin to skin, his whole lean body fitting into Rodney’s lap, his arms. They could kiss some more. They merged together, one flesh, and Rodney knew, he could feel his responses, now John was getting close.

What they couldn’t do in this position was thrust.

John was writhing, circling, bouncing a little, head thrown back on Rodney’s shoulder and Rodney held a hand across his throat but just knew that John still needed that little more.

He wrapped an arm around John to hold him against him and heaved up. “Forward. On your knees.” John crashed forward, arms not catching him, face down into the bedclothes, but his butt stayed up and Rodney’s cock stayed inside which was all that mattered. Rodney grabbed his hips and thrust… hard. Angling just so, because he knew John so well, and thrust and thrust and thrust, giving it all he’d got.

John braced his arms and shoved back. Once, twice… Rodney slipped his fingers under the tie and twisted it tight. John rammed back again and then body jerking, ass tightening convulsively around Rodney’s cock, he came and came, ribbons of come streaking across the bed. Rodney’s very core coalesced as he gave everything he had left and came again, holding tight to John, riding it out until the very end.

They collapsed into a sweaty, tangled, panting heap. Rodney managed to shift sideways and bury his face in John’s armpit breathing in the musk of him. John appeared to have passed out. Rodney thought about cleaning up but gave up in preference to passing out himself.

He awoke a little later when John gave him a shove and together they managed to climb under the covers where they curled around each other to warm up, sleepy and comfortable. Reality, unfortunately was starting to intrude. “I really can’t stay for too long,” Rodney muttered.

“You could,” John complained. “I want you to.” Rodney could practically feel him pouting against his chest. He stroked John’s delightfully soft hair, scratching his scalp.

“When are you coming back John? I miss you.” He played with the elfin point of John’s ear. “Lots of people miss you. They’re worried.”

John sighed. “I don’t know Rodney. I kind of like it here.”

“You can’t hide here for ever.”

“I don’t see why not,” John grumbled.

“You have responsibilities.”

“What if I don’t want responsibilities anymore? I’m tired Rodney. I’m so tired.”

“Well then you have to come back and resign.” Rodney sat up and looked down at him. He looked so sad and confused. “I’ll help you get through it, do what you need to do. I’ll resign too. We’ll get a cabin, one of our own. One just like this but a bit easier to get to, somewhere where our friends can visit. Somewhere with services, people to help you. Somewhere where we can both stay as long as we like.” He bent and kissed him. “I love you John. Please come back.”

John’s eyes filled with tears. “I don’t know Rodney. I don’t know if I’m strong enough.” He reached up and wrapped his arms around him and Rodney allowed himself to be pulled back down onto the bed, holding John as he cried.

“I love you too,” John said after a long time. He kissed him then turned his head back into the pillow.  “You’d better go if you’re going.”

“Come with me,” Rodney said as he got up, holding out his hand.

John shook his head. “Not yet. I’m not ready yet.” He gave a wan smile. “But I will come. I promise. Soon. I think. I’ll be ready soon.”

“Okay,” Rodney said. He felt comforted. He knew John always kept his promises.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rodney clambered out of the VR pod, ridiculously pleased that there was no one in the room to see him. His limbs were heavy and unco-operative, the scrubs he’d been clever enough to wear were sticky around his groin and he was pretty sure he smelt like he’d spent the night in an orgy. He was also sobbing his eyes out and the whole scenario would have been really hard to explain. He grabbed the water bottle he’d left on the floor and choked it down. It hadn’t really had anything to drink in the simulation and he was dehydrated.

Exhausted he stumbled along the passageway to the empty quarters where he’d left his clothes and toiletries, feeling quite smug that he’d been so well prepared. He used the shower in the empty apartment, spending a long time as he slowly got himself under control. He dressed, and only then reached for his earbud, woke his tablet and checked his messages and emails. Seemed like everyone really had believed that he was taking a day to catch up on sleep. Huh. He didn’t think he’d be able to pull that off quite so well.

He was just repacking the bag he’d brought when movement in the corner of his eye made him swing round. Zelenka was sitting in the corner of the room.

“Jesus.” Rodney nearly fell over. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Watching over you. You look terrible by the way.” He stood and threw a power bar at him. “Here. I see you have not eaten.”

“How long were you watching me?”

“I wasn’t down here all the time, but I have been keeping an eye on the power usage of the pod.” He shrugged. “I wanted to make sure you are all right.” He waved a hand. “I see you must be out and came down to be sure that you could actually walk. You were in there for a long time. Most of day.”

Rodney decided the best thing to do was to ignore him. He didn’t want to know how much Radek knew, or guessed. He tore into the power bar and ate it in two big bites. Now that he thought about it, he was starving. He grabbed his bag and headed out the door, already feeling restored.

“Jennifer was looking for you,” Zelenka said.

That stopped him. Panic took a grip. He forced it back. “What? Why?’ Dread squeezed his heart.

“Is all right. She just wanted to tell you. John seemed easier. His brainwaves, she says, she thinks he was dreaming. And he had trouble with his breathing for a while.”

That punched Rodney in the gut. Had he done that?

“But is better now.” The other man hastened to reassure him. “Is a lot better now.” Zelenka smiled. “She had taken out the ventilator. He is breathing on his own.”

Rodney stared at him, unseeing. He dropped the bag and headed for the transporter at a run. “I have to go.”

“Yes. Yes.” Radek gave a sad smile. “I thought you would.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rodney barrelled out of the transporter and into the infirmary, mowing a path through anyone in his way as he headed for John’s bed in the ICU. Radek was right. The respirator tube was gone. There was an oxygen cannula beneath John’s nose. He was lying on his side, the bedding hiding most of his injuries and other than being pale, he looked normal, he looked like he was sleeping.

Rodney picked up his hand and kissed it, then leaned over and kissed John’s chapped, stale lips. He held there, feeling an irrational hope that he would pull a Sleeping Beauty and John would suddenly wake, but nothing happened. He could feel John’s breath against him, steady and regular. He smelt like it was a long, long time since he’d brushed his teeth.

“Huh,” Rodney muttered as he pulled up the bedside chair. “I guess that would have made me Prince Charming, and that’s just ridiculous.” He kept hold of John’s hand. “Everyone knows that you’re the Prince Charming.” Tears pricked at his throat. “I need you to wake up John. I need you to come rescue me.”

Then he remembered the conversation in the simulator. “Actually no. I take that back. You don’t have to be Prince Charming. That’s not what I want from you. Not anymore. Stop rescuing me. That’s what got you into this mess. Remember your promise. You’re going to wake up and we’ll both resign. We’ll go buy a cabin in the woods somewhere, or maybe we’ll build one on the Athosian mainland and we’ll be partners. We’ll rescue each other.” There was no response and swallowing despair, he rested his head on the bed.

A tickling feeling against his cheek woke him up. The bow tie? No. He sat up with a gasp as he registered that John’s fingers were twitching against him. It was dark in the room, someone must have turned the lights down at some stage. It wasn’t late though, he could hear people singing Christmas Carols out in the ward. That’s right, it was Christmas Eve. Disorientated he looked up the bed to see heavy lidded hazel eyes peering at him. “Hey,” John croaked.

“Hey,” Rodney said with disbelief. “Hey.” He sat up, brain coming back on line. “Oh my god. You’re awake. John. Oh, thank God.” He fumbled to find the call bell. Couldn’t. “Jennifer,” he bellowed. “Jennifer. Anyone.”

The Christmas Carols cut off. Jennifer skidded into the room. She was wearing a Santa hat and blinking earrings. “What?” she said crossly. Then she looked. And smiled. “Well about time you woke up,” she said with delight. Then she turned on the lights and went into doctor mode. She didn’t even try to make Rodney leave.

John looked at her, utterly bemused. “’s Chr’s’ms?”

By the time she’d finished checking John over, topped up his pain meds and tucked him back into bed, he’d passed out again. “It’s all right,” she told Rodney. “He needs lots more sleep to recover, but he’s getting better. It will be a long road but he’s going to make it.”

She swept out of the room without telling Rodney to go back to his quarters to bed.

Five minutes later she was back, pushing a spare bed into the space beside John’s bed. She turned the bedding down with a flourish, then gave him a slightly sad little smile. “I guess I always knew there was something between you two.” Then, she told Rodney to go to bed.

She stopped at the door to turn down the lights. “Merry Christmas Rodney.”

Rodney kicked off his boots and climbed into the bed. He reached across and took John’s hand. “Merry Christmas.”

“Mmy c’ms,” John murmured. And it really was.

**Author's Note:**

> Dear Melimegreenleaf, I loved some of your prompts and was quite keen on doing a Kate fix it. But I just didn't have the time to think it through so I decided to go with a nice, quick and happy, porny holiday story. So, I wrote that. It was pretty much what you thought you were reading at the beginning. But then I started to see the potential for a dark side to that story. It didn't take much tweaking and I had something wonderfully creepy. Then I remembered it was supposed to be a Christmas gift and thought, hell, no one wants THAT for a present. So then I wrote some more words and tweaked it a bit and you got ... this.   
> It was all great fun. I do hope you like it.


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